JKCL liability reaches 82.81 crore, reveals Govt

Technical breakdowns affecting production of plant

Jammu, Feb 02 (KNS): The state Government Friday revealed in the legislative Assembly that Jammu and Kashmir Cements Limited (JKCL), is running in loss with an outstanding liability of Rs 82.81 crore.
According to the KNS correspondent, in a written reply to independent MLA from Udhampur Pawan Gupta, the government said that till the year 2016 the liability of J&K Cements Limited was Rs 120 crores which has come down now owing to payment towards a term bank loan. " The liabilities upto the period ending 2016 was to the extent of Rs. 120 Crore. This situation has occurred due to unfavorable situation like, 2014 floods, 2016. Besides there was also technical breakdowns of new plant at Khrew thereby affecting production on the plant," the government has said.
The government also said that till December 2017 the J&K Cements Limited liability towards employees’ dues was Rs 26.72 crore.
It is to mention here that JKCL has two plants with individual capacity of around 600 tonnes per day which over the years has declined. The successive elected governments had blamed each other for downfall in its production and both the NC- Congress and PDP- BJP government termed it a victim of "politics".
Being a state owned company, it has a pivotal role to produce cement of well standard quality at the reasonable rates. "Unlike other cement plants operating in the valley, it has lost its market value due to production of lower quality cement as authorities have been purchasing sub- standard material for its production," insiders said. (KNS)